Related News
Related News
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Imagine a Day Without Water 2024
Learn how you can prepare for an extended water outage.
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2024 Public Power Week Poster Contest
To celebrate Public Power Week, EWEB is held our annual poster contest for fifth graders in our service area. Help us choose the winners.
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Smart meters make UO move-in easier
Automatic move-in service order processing makes signing up for electric service easy for UO students and the entire Eugene community, while keeping utility vehicles off the road and lowering carbon emissions.
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EWEB Partners with the City and YMCA to Celebrate New Amazon Park Emergency Water Station Site
Hundreds of attendees practiced filling up water containers at Saturday's demonstration event.
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EWEB Communications Team Wins Top Awards at Northwest Innovations in Communications Conference
Competing against public utilities from across the region, EWEB brought home two significant awards in recognition of our work to engage and inform the community.
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September is National Preparedness Month: 3 tips to prepare your home & family
Let's "Be Ready" together!
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EWEB invests in preparedness for severe weather and natural disasters
Just as you take steps to safeguard your home and family, EWEB is investing in equipment and processes to ensure our community’s electric and water systems remain reliable in the face of adversity.
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EWEB prepares to re-energize the new Currin Substation
The rebuilt substation will increase load capacity, improve power reliability, and incorporate seismic resiliency to ensure service to our community for generations.
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Demand for EWEB electricity during heatwave nearly broke all-time summer record
Climate-driven weather extremes, home electrification, high-tech manufacturing and data centers will cause electricity demand to surge across the Pacific Northwest.
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EWEB explores rate increases to cover rising costs and to modernize infrastructure
Amid rising inflation and other challenges, rate increases are necessary to maintain reliable utility services and fund critical investments in Eugene’s water and electric infrastructure.
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EWEB prepares for rising energy demand as weekend heat wave arrives
Electricity supply is sufficient for now, but new supplies will be necessary in the years ahead to keep pace.
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EWEB preparing for expected surge in electric vehicles
Electric vehicle (EV) sales are poised to skyrocket in the years ahead as technology improves, more models hit the market, prices fall and regulations limit the sale of gas-powered vehicles. And EWEB is preparing for this surge.
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EWEB bids a fond farewell to College Hill Reservoir and prepares for modern drinking water storage tanks
Several hundred Eugene residents came together on May 30 for a Farewell Celebration at EWEB’s College Hill Reservoir before demolition and construction to build modern drinking water storage tanks begins later this year.
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EWEB invests in satellite-based forestry analytics for vegetation management
EWEB maintains over 1,300 miles of overhead transmission and distribution lines. To aid crews in identifying hazardous vegetation growth in a sometimes heavily forested service territory, EWEB is utilizing a new satellite-based forestry analytics software called Overstory.
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Tips to stay cool while saving money this summer
June is quickly approaching, and that means summer weather is just around the corner. Before you turn up the air conditioning and see an increase in your utility bill, try these tips to prepare your home for warmer weather to keep your home cool.
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EWEB Project Underway Reduces Maintenance Costs and Improves Wildfire Mitigation along McKenzie Highway
August 01, 2022
EWEB’s removal of 31 miles of electric conductor and 159 poles spanning five miles along the McKenzie Highway is now underway. This removal project will improve the community's aesthetic, reduce maintenance costs, and decrease environmental impact.
“The decision to get rid of the lines, instead of rebuilding them, will increase customer reliability and allow us to connect to the broader system more efficiently while reducing wildfire risk,” said Tyler Nice, EWEB Electric Division Manager.
This unique opportunity to reduce the infrastructure footprint and maintenance costs will also improve wildfire mitigation because less infrastructure means less chance of ignition or damage from a fire.
“Removing these transmission lines is just the right thing to do,” said Jebediah Wolfe, EWEB Project Manager, “having the poles up and wires attached is unnecessary at this point.”
The poles, supporting two, 3-phase circuits, once transmitted power from the Walterville substation to the Leaburg substation. The lines were de-energized in 2019 as part of the Holden Creek substation project. The Holden Creek substation improved the resiliency of our McKenzie River transmission system by replacing the Leaburg substation, originally built in the early 1930s. Replacing the lines was one of several options, but ultimately, EWEB opted to pay a small interconnection fee to use the existing, adjacent power lines owned by the Bonneville Power Administration. This decision was cost-effective because the estimate for repairing and replacing the current lines was $10.6 million.
The decision to use Bonneville’s existing lines saved EWEB millions of dollars and provided the opportunity to lessen the community impact. Many of the poles scheduled for removal are on private property – in fields, over houses and driveways. Private property owners will appreciate the removal and restoration on their land.
While this project is exciting for the local community, it’s important to note that this was a unique opportunity to plan new projects and use existing infrastructure strategically to avoid costs while reducing footprint and impact.
“I’m so proud of our team for thinking outside the box and coming up with an alternative to the standard ‘replace-in-kind’ approach,” said Nice.
EWEB crews will be hard at work removing the transmission lines and poles throughout the summer, and we anticipate project completion in September of 2022.